Pressure the 15th club!
When the time comes to tee it up under pressure do you fold like a cheap lawn chair? When the time comes for your annual trip with the boys and a few bucks are on the line or team pride do you walk towards it with enthusiasm or wish you were somewhere else?
The country is full of many great players that tee it up weekly at their home course and post some great numbers but when it comes to competition they can’t transfer their game. This past week at the Open Championship, this was the looming question in everyone’s mind. Can Louis Oosthuizen close the deal under the pressure of a Sunday at a major championship.
The guy was #54 in the world but yet he was entering uncharted waters and it would have been very understandable if the wheels came off. Just last month at the US Open Dustin Johnson displayed what happens to one’s body under this pressure.
So what about you, do you take it in stride or all of sudden put extra importance on every single shot? The fact is simple, if you increase your expectation on every shot all day it is an absolute mental grind that will kill you. You must put the day into perceptive and know that you don’t have to be perfect all day. Knowing that you will miss a few shots, have a few errant drives and won’t make every putt will allow you to free up your mind.
We have heard it so many times that you just need to play the course and not your opponent and focus on what you can do. Trying to pull off a shot that needs to be perfect may lead to disaster instead of playing your game and playing to your strengths.
Meltdown!
For us hackers out there in the 10-17 handicap range don’t fool yourself into having to be perfect. Dance with the date you brought and leave it to the other guy to make forced mistakes. I can’t tell you how many times bogey will win a hole and when you look back on how you got to double bogey I am sure you will find that you tried to bite off more than you can chew.
On September 11-12 I will be playing in my Rocket Ryder Cup and fun North vs. South match that I am gearing up for. The only thing I am really going to focus on from now until then is my short game and putting because around and on the greens is where it all happens.
I would love to hear some of your experiences in these situation and how you over came or folded. Looking forward to the stories!
Tags: Pressure, Rocket Ryder Cup, ryder cup
Posted in Rocket Rambler | No Comments »
Matchplay Is The Essence Of Golf
February 17th, 2010
The weekly grind of the PGA Tour is all about having the best week a player can have against the course and the 125 plus other players in the starting gate on Thursday. Week in and week out we hear players say it was a good week, good Top 10 finish or picked up some needed Fed Ex points but this week is different.
Sixty of the world’s top golfers are slugging it our in pure man on man matchplay, not against the field of 125, not for a good finish and a nice check but me versus you! It is something the TV giants shutter about because what if the top seeds are sent home packing? I say so what!
The essence of golf as an individual sport is great when its one round and done. Show up or shut up. Make the putt or don’t. It’s pressure right out of the gate and I think it shows the true grit of a man as he has to play his opponent and the golf course.
It is all about the ability of one to keep focused and bear down when needed or to throttle back when par is your friend. The Accenture World Matchplay shows us the talent that all these guys have and how on ANY given day the worlds best can be slamming their trunk after 18 holes and catching the next bus out of town.
I started an event 4 years ago for me and my buddies and its the Rocket Ryder Cup. Every guy loves it because its not the same old “score focused” round we all get into week in and week out. The fact that you can shoot a big number here and there isn’t the end of the world. The emotions are high, the stories are great and some of the collapses are down right ugly.
I’ll never forget when my good friend sunk a 50 footer on me when I thought I had it in the bag. I folded like a cheap suit and that was the crack in the door that he needed. The wound was opened and he slowly applied the salt until I waved the white flag, took off my cap and shook his hand.
It’s the matchplay events that we all remember and I look forward to this week with a refreshing change from the norm. I think next year I may put a salt shaker in my bag……..
Tags: Accenture World Matchplay, matchplay, Rocket Ryder Cup
Posted in Rocket Rambler | No Comments »
